


Unexpected

by magicallyslytherin



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Family Issues, Good Regulus Black, Gryffindor/Slytherin Inter-House Relationships, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Regulus Black Feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26550541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicallyslytherin/pseuds/magicallyslytherin
Summary: 1978. The year everyone expected Olivia Rottlow to finally get with her best friend Regulus Black, and for James Potter to finally win over his biggest crush Lily Evans. However, in Hogwarts even the most unexpected things can happen.~~ in which Olivia Rottlow and James Potter join forces to try and get the Black brothers to see eye to eye again but end up getting closer than expected ~~
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, James Potter/Original Female Character(s), Regulus Black/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

The loud shouting and screaming echoed through the dark corridors of 12 Grimmauld Place and creeped its way up the stairs and underneath the door of Regulus Black's bedroom. Inside said bedroom lay two teenagers in the bed. One was Regulus Black himself. His black hair (which was in desperate need of a haircut) was covering his shut eyes and his hands were in fists by his side. Meanwhile his feet were subconsciously shaking up and down. Much to the annoyance of the person laying beside him. Olivia Rottlow. She used her own feet to nudge her best friend's slightly so that he would stop. He did. But his hands remained in fists and his eyes were still forced shut.However, Olivia's eyes were not shut at all. Instead she was staring at the ceiling above them. The shouting was so loud that it was even beginning to shake the ceiling ever so slightly, only noticeable by the occasional swing of Regulus's light shade.

Suddenly there was a loud bang, followed by another one. And then there was nothing but silence.

Regulus's eyes were now wide open and staring directly into Olivia's beside him who was staring straight back with equal amounts of worry. Just as she was about to open her mouth and say something, another shout rang through the house.

"Regulus, dear! Come finish your dinner."

The sound of Walburga's voice caused Regulus to jump a little. Olivia placed a comforting hand on his arm but her insides still squirmed with how uncomfortable she felt. She could not understand how Walburga's voice was so monotone after the screaming match that had just ensued with her other son.

No words were exchanged between the best friends as they nodded and intertwined their fingers. Olivia made sure to give Regulus's hand a reassuring squeeze as they made their way downstairs and towards the dining area, where to no surprise they were now one family member short.

Walburga mentioned for Regulus and Olivia to take their seat. The sound of the chairs scraping against the stone floor was ear-piercingly loud, cutting through the tense silence surrounding the four remaining people in the room.

Orion Black was already sitting down at the table. It seemed as though he had barely moved an inch since Regulus and Olivia scattered off to Regulus's room to avoid the chaos. However, his jaw was clearly tensed and his knuckles white as he clutched his fork.

It was more obvious that Walburga had been shaken up by the incident. Her always pristine hair was dishevelled and her cheeks where a shade of bright red. However, she had a fake smile plastered over her face as if keeping up the facade for Olivia.

Regulus had told Olivia the stories. The haunting stories of the monster that his mother could become. Ever since they fresh out of nappies and way before their days at Hogwarts, Regulus had told Olivia about 'the monster' behind his mother's facade in the safety of the pillow forts they used to make and sleep in during summer nights. Sirius always used to shelter Regulus from their mother's episodes of torture to the best of his ability, however these past few years a distance was increasing between the brothers. Ever since Sirius was put into Gryffindor and Regulus into Slytherin a year later, it was like an invisible barrier was placed between them. However, Regulus still seemed to avoid the full brutality of the monster that lurked within his mother. No, the brutalities were often saved for Sirius.

This did not make it any easier for Regulus however. He felt a little bit of himself slipping away everyday that he had to spend hiding underneath the covers of his bed as he listened to the haunting and spine chilling sounds of his brother being tortured by their mother. He didn't dare step in. He tried to once but it only led to more trouble. Instead, he hid himself in his room until everything seemed to have calmed down. Then he would creep out, avoid Sirius's gaze and mumble short responses to his mother. Regulus often felt alone during times like these, which were becoming unfortunately more common in the Black household but Olivia would remind him every time he came to her with these stories or she was unlucky enough to witness the events herself, that she would be by his side to support him no matter what.

This time was no different. She noticed that Regulus could not take his eyes off the empty chair opposite him and could see that his usual cold eyes were beginning to show the slightest hint of emotion. Subtly, Olivia moved her hand underneath the table, trying her best to keep her movements unnoticed by Orion and Walburga as she gently placed her hands over Regulus's cold ones.

The Black family and Olivia ate their food in an uncomfortable silence, the only sound filling the dining area was the sound of the metal cutlery against the plates. Olivia could see out the corner of her eye that Regulus was simply cutting up his food and moving it around his plate, rarely ever picking up the food on his fork and eating it. Her heart ached for her best friend. She wished that she could find a way for him to escape from this environment of torture and manipulation forever. However, she also had her struggles.

The Rottlows may be one of the last remaining pure blood wizarding families, but their family name did not hold the same weight as those like the Blacks or the Malfoys. For a Pure Blood family, the Rottlows were not privileged enough to have piles of gold sitting about in their vault at Gringotts nor do they have a rich history behind them either. The Rottlows were as plain and as ordinary you could get for a pure blood family.

But deep down, they were deeply dysfunctional. Olivia's father, Harrison, could hear that the world would end the next day and he would still show no emotion. Her mother, Vanessa, on the other hand is known to be overly emotional and deeply concerned with personal appearance. Everything has to be perfect. The fact that she gets along so well with Walburga Black speaks a lot about her character. Friends since their days at Hogwarts, Walburga and Vanessa made sure that their children were close from the day they were born.

Their eldest children did not seem to click however. Sirius Black and George Rottlow just could not see eye to eye. Sirius with his joking nature and Gryffindor enthusiasm clashed with the relaxed and serious Slytherin of George. Walburga felt embarrassed by the fact her son was not the way she wanted him to be, a blood traitor, muggle sympathiser and reckless meanwhile Vanessa was rather smug over the fact that her first son was way more 'presentable' than Walburga's. Whilst the two women were close friends, they were also deeply competitive and loved to get one up on eachother.

However, they were lucky enough that their second children got along so well. Regulus and Olivia shared the same personalities since they were born: both reserved and quiet, loved books and potions and would spend their early days sitting in the garden in their nappies reading books and making up their own potions whilst Sirius would run around them on his pretend broomstick, occasionally knocking their potions over by 'accident'.

And that is how it has been throughout their lives. Neither Regulus nor Olivia could imagine their lives without the other in it. They were closer to each other than their own siblings and family. They shared a bond they believed that no one could break.

Vanessa and Walburga believed this too. Of course they had intentions for Regulus and Olivia to be married in the near future and both believed that they would not even need to intrude for that to happen. But that didn't stop Vanessa from dropping hints now and then to Olivia:

"You and Regulus are so cute together. I don't know two people who are closer than you two!"

"Regulus is a good boy. Clever, pure blood, his views are correct. I don't think you will ever find a better boy!"

"The Blacks are a very wealthy family, you would do well to marry into that family!" 

If Olivia was honest to herself, she wasn't sure about marrying yet. It very rarely crossed her mind and when it did it was only because her mother had mentioned it.

"Why don't you two go and read for a bit? I think my husband and I are going to go to bed early tonight." Walburga said as Kreacher walked in to collect the plates from the table, muttering nothings as he did so.

It was obvious that Regulus didn't want to speak as he continued to look down at his lap and Olivia's hand covering his so Olivia decided to speak instead.

"Yeah. We can do that," she gave Regulus's hand a gentle squeeze before standing up off the chair. Regulus remained silent as he did the same and followed Olivia out of the dining area. "Goodnight Mr & Mrs Black." was the last thing Olivia said before she and Regulus disappeared up the staircase to his room.

Later that night, Olivia stared at the ceiling of her own bedroom not able to get rid of the sounds of her best friend sobbing from her mind. Olivia stayed over at the Blacks longer than usual as she held the sobbing Regulus in her arms. Of course they both knew deep down that Sirius was gone for good this time, it was always inevitable that he was going to leave. It was always just a question of time. However Olivia believed that there was always a bit of Regulus that clung onto his older brother and believed that Sirius would always stay to protect him if things ever got really bad with mother. Regulus wanted to believe that the brother who once comforted him when he was younger was still there, deep within.

But Regulus still had Olivia. And what he said to her through his uncontrollable sobbing that night was the last thing that Olivia heard before she finally drifted off to sleep.

"You will never leave me right? You will be by my side forever?" he asked in a weak voice.

"I will be with you. Always." she replied.


	2. Chapter 2

Olivia and Regulus sat in their usual compartment of the Hogwarts Express. Each had their own side of the compartment as they sprawled themselves out on their seats. The sound of flicking pages and the train riding along the train tracks was all that could be heard in the compartment as the pair sat in a comfortable silence. They were so distracted and engrossed in their books that they failed to notice the time and their commitments. 

The sound of the compartment door rattling open snapped Olivia’s attention from her book. She lifted her head up to see who had entered their compartment. It seemed that Regulus had done the same thing at the same time as Lily Evans stood at the door with a slight amused grin on her face. 

“Hey, we are having a prefects meeting in the prefects compartment. It shouldn’t take too long,” Lily said, 

“We’ll be there in a few seconds.” Olivia smiled and put her book down. 

“See you there.” Lily gave a short wave and exited the compartment. When she was gone, Regulus let out a groan. 

“Why do we have to do these meetings?” Regulus asked, yawning and stretching back in his seat. 

“Because we are prefects.” Regulus rolled his eyes at her answer but accepted her hand as she pulled him out of his seat. 

•

James Potter stood impatiently in front of the little gathering of prefects. When Lily arrived back again without the two Slytherins, he let out a frustrated sigh. 

“Where are the two sixth year Slytherins?” he asked her when she stood next to him. 

“Olivia and Regulus will be here in a few seconds. Calm down, we called the meeting early so we have plenty of time.” 

“I know but I need to get back to Sirius. We have these plans to-” Lily cut the over excited James off. 

“Keep your eccentric plans to Sirius and yourself.” she patted him on the shoulder as the two remaining Prefects stumbled into the compartment. 

James watched them closely as they slid into the remaining seats at the back of the compartment with their hands in each other’s. Olivia whispered something to the dark haired boy which caused him to smile slightly and whisper something back. That was the most emotion that James had ever seen on the youngest Black brother. 

He was wondering how Regulus was holding up following the departure of Sirius but it seems he was doing just fine. As Sirius put it himself, Regulus would be fine as he was their parents ‘favourite’ and has his ‘little girlfriend’ to keep him company. James doubted that there was ever a time when he saw one without the other. Even when Sirius pointed out his little brother to James on Regulus’ first day at Hogwarts, he had his little blonde friend alongside him. 

According to Sirius it was like that ever since they were born. Sirius used to get annoyed as he wanted to play games with his little brother like Quidditch or even just some exploding snap. But Regulus always preferred the company of the Rottlow girl and reading books. 

‘They are gonna end up married someday with loads of little bookworm children that sprout out all kinds of stuff about pure blood supremacy. I don’t want to be associated with those little devils.’ Sirius had claimed once. 

It is very rare nowadays that Sirius wound bring up his little brother and his close friend but it was quite obvious that Sirius’s departure has them as close as ever. Even James, who usually does not pay much attention to the quiet pair, noticed a slight shift in their behaviours. Maybe this was them finally dating. Either way, James had to make sure that they were not on petrol together as he didn’t want them using it as opportunities to sneak off into broom cupboards. He felt a bit sick at the image. 

“Ok so,” the sound of Lily’s voice brought him back to reality. “We thought that we would gather you all to introduce ourselves as the new Head Girl and Boy for the year and go through some simple things.” 

“So, I’m Lily Evans. I’m gonna be the Head Girl this year.” Lily introduced herself. 

“And I’m James Potter. I’ll be the Head Boy.” James said with a slight smirk. 

Lily gave a subtle nod towards the box of prefect badges at the side. James took the hint and picked up the box. 

“James will hand out your badges now. You should wear them on your robes at all times.” Lily explained. 

James went around giving everyone their badges. When he finally got to Regulus and Olivia, he wanted to roll his eyes as Regulus took his without a word but the quiet and unexpected “thank you” from Olivia as she took hers stopped him from doing so. 

James walked back to the front of the compartment next to Lily. As she began to speak about the duties and responsibilities of a prefect, James zoned out and focused on the beauty of her voice. It was no secret that he had a crush on Lily Evans and he had been rejected many times. But this year he was determined that he would make it work. He liked to think that he had matured a lot over summer and had some new plans in place to finally win over Lily Evans. He had to. Lily was the only girl he could ever imagine him being with. Them together in a small village, living in a cottage with her outside picking flowers whilst he polished his broomsticks...

“Isn’t that right, James?” Lily turned to him expectedly. 

“Um, yeah.” James said awkwardly as he scratched the back of his neck. It was obvious that he wasn’t paying attention. He could see Lily roll her eyes at him and he cursed himself. Already things weren’t going to plan for him. 

•

Once the prefects meeting was over, Olivia and Regulus made their way back to their own compartment. However, on the way there Olivia stumbled into a body in the busy corridor. 

“Oh, sorry.” she said in a flustered tone. 

“That’s alright, babe.” a voice replied before the body turned around to reveal a face. Olivia’s heart stopped as she was stood face to face with Sirius Black.

Sirius’s face turned sour as he realised who had walked into him. He looked her up and down before grunting something inaudible. Regulus watched the encounter closely and was quick to grab Olivia’s hand and stand closer to her. 

“Leave her alone, Sirius.” he said with a strong voice and Olivia could feel his grip on her hand tighten as he spoke the words. 

Sirius didn’t reply. Instead he ignored the presence of his brother, sniggered and looked away from the pair. Immediately, he caught sight of James Potter and ran over to him. Olivia and Regulus watched as they gave each other a high five and began talking and joking with each other. Olivia could feel Regulus tense up beside her. She turned to him and forced him to look at her and away from his brother and his friend. 

“Come on, lets head back to our compartment.” 

•

Sirius Black sat with his closest friends: James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. They famously call themselves The Marauders and are known for being notoriously mischievous. But they were unusually quiet as they sat in their compartment. James played with his Snitch, Remus had his nose in a book and Peter was starring out of the window, his face almost up against the glass. Sirius was keen to start a conversation.

“So how was the prefects meeting? Make any progress with your Lily Pad?” Sirius asked James with a wink. 

James immediately looked down, embarrassed. “I zoned out when she was speaking and she noticed.” 

“Merlin’s beard, Prongs! You are never gonna get her at this rate!” Sirius joked and Peter laughed, finally looking away from the window. 

“Shut it, Padfoot.” James muttered. “Didn’t I see you with your brother in the corridor?”

Sirius snorted in disgust. “He is not my brother. I just had the pleasure of running into his precious little Olivia.” 

“He looks well?” James asked.

Sirius shrugged. “I just try and ignore him.” 

Remus put down his book and sighed. “You will have to acknowledge him at some point, Sirius. Don’t you think you owe him an explanation as to why you left?” 

“No. He saw the way I was treated at home and he didn’t care. He has the love of his parents, he does not need me. Can we talk about something else please?”

• 

Meanwhile, back in their own compartment, Olivia could sense the sadness and anger Regulus was feeling. He hadn’t picked up his book again since they arrived back. Instead, he stared out of the window with his jaw clenched. 

“Reg?” Olivia spoke softly. 

Regulus took a deep breath before exploding into a rant. “I’m just sick of his behaviour! He disrespects mother and father, he fools around with that Potter boy and his friends all the time, he has to show off all the time and has be the centre of attention, he thinks that he is above me now he is a Gryffindor and a blood traitor and that he can just leave the family and pretend we don’t exist anymore. It isn’t fair! And they way he looks at you even though you are not involved...”

Olivia jumped off her seat and joined him on his side. She placed a comforting hand on his knee. “Reg, it’s okay. Sirius made the choice to leave and you have to respect that. Maybe one day he will talk to you again and maybe he won’t. But that is okay, because you have your own life to live. And no matter what, he will always have love for you. You’re brothers at the end of the day and that kind of bond never breaks.” 

Regulus was still and silent for a moment before he curled himself into Olivia’s side, holding on to her for comfort. The two sat in silence as Olivia ran her fingers through his dark hair in an attempt to calm him as he lay his head on her lap.

Olivia looked up for a brief moment and saw James Potter passing the compartment. They made eye contact for a split second and that was when the idea came to Olivia.

James Potter. That was her answer to this mess with the Black brothers. Who were the brothers closest to and were the only two people that could possibility talk some sense into them? James was like a brother to Sirius just like Olivia was like a twin to Regulus. If they could both get them to see some sense last their prejudices, maybe just maybe there was a chance to fix the broken relationship between the brothers.

But that would involve actually speaking to James Potter, which was something Olivia had never done. And would he even be willing to help? From what Olivia knew of James Potter, she saw him as arrogant and self centred... would he even entertain the idea of speaking to her? Or would he laugh in her face? 

Olivia was about to give up on her plan when she looked down at the boy on her lap. He was now drifting off to sleep. She stared at his features. It wasn’t obvious from afar but up close you could see the toll that Sirius’s departure had on the younger brother. He had dark circles under his eyes, breakouts of spots on his forehead and chin and his hair was looking a bit more messy than usual. Olivia could tell that deep down, Regulus was hurt and heartbroken. 

Her gut instinct kicked in and she knew that she had to do whatever she could to make him feel okay again. Even if that meant the stress of trying to fix the complicated relationship between him and his brother. And she was even willing to talk to and work with James Potter to do so. 

And people say that love is not the most powerful of emotions.


	3. Chapter 3

Over the course of the next few days, Regulus was in a horrible mood, constantly brooding and spent his time reading about dark magic and cutting out more newspaper clippings of stories about Voldemort, who was continuing his plan of pure-blood supremacy. Whilst Olivia knew that Regulus related to these beliefs, she also knew that he was only doing it so much these days because Regulus knew that things like these are what annoyed Sirius the most. He was desperately trying to detach himself from his older brother as much as he could.

"Reg? Don't you have prefect duties tonight?" Olivia asked, interrupting his intense reading session on the use of dark magic.

"Yeah. With Potter." Regulus leg out a disgusted grunt as his eyes remained glued to the page.

"Potter?" Olivia sounded astounded.

"Yeah, I know right? I'm going to have to deal with his arrogance all night. Him and Sirius are just the same. He probably won't take it seriously."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "It'll be fine. Just go and get it over with." she now stood over him and threatened to shut the book that had been getting all of his attention for the past 2-3 hours.

"Fine." Regulus huffed. "If you never see that Potter again you know why."

•

James came thundering down the stairs and into the common room. He walked straight up to Lily who was sitting around the fire with her friends, laughing at something. Usually, James would take a moment to appreciate the way her hair looked in the fire light but he was too riled up to notice on this day. He put the prefect schedule in front of her face.

"What is this?" he asked in a rushed voice.

"It's the prefect schedule, James." Lily said in a plain voice.

"Yeah but why have I been put with Regulus Black of all people?"

"You were the one who said that you didn't want him and Rottlow together so that they could 'spend the time snogging in the broom cupboard and producing more pure blood supremacist babies '. So I put you with him because you were the only one left." Lily explained calmly.

James stomped his feet like a petulant child. "I've changed my mind. Let the two Slytherin pure-bloods have their fun in the broom cupboard. Change it so it is me and you and them two together."

"Huh, let me think about that... No, Potter. Now go and do your patrol, you are already late." Lily shooed him away.

James muttered under his breath as he made his way out of the common room and into the corridors of the Hogwarts castle. Luckily there was no sign of the moody Slytherin boy yet. James couldn't understand how two brothers could be so different. Sirius was funny, laid back and was against all the prejudices that he was brought up with. Meanwhile Regulus was snobbish, pompous and from what he has heard about him, incredibly prejudiced. At least it was James that would have to deal with him, not Lily. James's hands clenched at the thought of what prejudiced things Regulus would say to Lily.

Just then he saw the long black hair of said Slytherin boy approaching him in the corridors with an equally displeased face. It was obvious that they did not want to be in each other's company.

"Black."

"Potter."

They walked in silence as they patrolled the corridors. No one was lurking around in the corridors tonight, not even first years trying their luck. James kind of wished there was so that he at least had something to do apart from being in the presence of a brooding Slytherin. He was bored. And when James Potter gets bored, he gets mischievous. He smirked as he thought of a way to annoy and tease the boy walking next to him.

"Missing your girlfriend? Is that why you are so moody?" he asked in a teasing voice.

"I don't have a girlfriend." Regulus replied, his tone flat.

"Are you sure about that? What is her name again? Olivia, right?"

"Olivia is my friend."

"Oh, so you would be okay if I was to ask her to Hogsmeade next weekend?" James almost broke character and laughed as he said it.

Regulus stopped walking and looked at him with his arms crossed. "I know what you are doing, Potter. You won't get a reaction from me. I know that you won't ever even speak to Liv because you are so busy chasing after that mudblood Lily Evans. Plus even if you did ask Liv, she would say no as she is far too good for some blood traitor like you."

James felt a fire of rage building up inside him at Regulus's words. He was about to draw his wand and retaliate when Peeves came flying through the gap between them screaming about the Bloody Baron following him. James watched as Peeves dropped all of the pots and pans that he was carrying and disappeared into one of the walls.

"I'm heading back to my common room." Regulus announced as he walked off as if nothing had just happened between them. As if he hadn't just used some of the worst terms in the Wizarding world so casually.

James was still fuming when he walked back to the Gryffindor Common Room. He walked straight to his group of friends who were all playing exploding snap.

"Your little brother is an insufferable git." James said to Sirius as he took a seat next to him.

"He's not my brother anymore but tell me something I don't know. What did he do?" Sirius asked, placing down one of his cards onto the table.

"He called Lily a m- a mud- ugh I can't say it." James said through gritted teeth.

"It's okay, Prongs. We understand what he said. Just learn to ignore him." Remus attempted to calm his friend down.

"Yeah, just don't speak to him and he won't speak to you. Regulus has always been weird like that." Sirius added.

James remained in a bad mood the whole night as he slumped himself in the chair and watched his friends play exploding snap for the rest of the night whilst Lily was busy laughing away with her friends. He really needed to make progress with his plan.

•

Regulus was in equally bad of a mood when he arrived back at the Slytherin common room. He walked straight past Olivia without a word and went straight to his dormitory. Olivia sighed and shook her head in distress. She really needed to try and sort this situation out before Regulus did something he would regret.

•

It was a new day and Olivia was having breakfast with Regulus in the Great Hall. He seemed in a slightly better mood this morning but he still barely interacted with her, instead he was far more interested in the Daily Prophet, searching for more news about Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

"When I come back from patrol tonight, do you wanna play some chess?" Olivia asked as she tried to make conversation with her best friend.

"Uh yeah sure. Who do you have patrol with?" Regulus finally looked up from the newspaper and looked to his friend with a weak smile.

"Lily Evans."

Regulus scoffed. "Good luck with that. I can't believe that we have been put between the Gryffindor love affair."

"We'll just have to deal with it right now." Olivia sighed and went to pick up her glass of orange juice but her fingers slipped and she spilt it all over her robes.

"For the love of Merlin! Why do these things always happen to me?" she cursed, trying to wipe her robes with a napkin.

"Because you are clumsy." Regulus teased her with a grin.

"Oh ha ha. I'm just going to quickly go and change my robes. I'll meet you at potions?" Olivia said as she stood up off the bench to leave.

"Okay. See you there." Regulus said before returning his attention back to the newspaper. Olivia rolled her eyes at that but smiled as she noticed that he had managed to sort his hair out last night with it no longer covering his eyes.

Whilst walking along the corridors towards the Slytherin common room, Olivia saw Sirius walking on the other side of the corridor towards her. She tried to stop herself but she just couldn't. When he was close enough to hear her she called out to him.

"Sirius!"

Sirius stopped in his tracks and turned to her. "Rottlow, what do you want?" he said impatiently.

"Can we talk for a quick second?"

"Only if it is quick." he replied begrudgingly.

They both walked off to the side and stood awkwardly, maintains a good distance between them both.

"Listen, I know it doesn't seem this way but Regulus really cares for you. I think you should talk to him and at least try and clear the air a little with him." Olivia rushed her words out.

Sirius took a moment to process the words. "If he wants to talk to me, he can do so himself. He shouldn't need his girlfriend to go around speaking for him."

"I'm not his girlfriend but Sirius, please. You are his brother and I'm scared for him. I think we both know he has interests for dangerous things. He will listen to you." this time she talked in a whisper.

"He won't listen to me. He never did when we were younger, so why would he now? There is nothing you can do Rottlow. We all know where he is destined to end up and we all know you will follow him." Sirius said in a sad tone.

"Please just think about it?"

"Sorry, Rottlow. I can't. And I think you should stop trying to get into our lives and change it. Conversation over."

And with that, Sirius was gone down the corridor.

Those goddamn Black brothers. Why couldn't they just communicate with each other for once?

•

Olivia waited for Lily on the floor they were meant to meet up on. She was kind of nervous about spending some time alone with the redhead. Lily had always seemed nice and things can't go any worse than it seemed to have gone for Regulus and James the night before but something about Gryffindors put Olivia on edge.

"Hey!" A chirpy voice sounded along the corridor. Olivia turned to see Lily walking up to her.

"Hi! Busy day?" Olivia asked politely.

"Not too bad. Yourself?"

"I've had worse days."

Lily laughed awkwardly and gestures along the corridor. "Want to head that way? I hear the second years have been congregating a lot there recently."

"Yeah sure." Olivia nodded.

"Sorry about not having you and Regulus together. I didn't want to be stuck alone with Potter for an hour. Sounds selfish I know." Lily explained sheepishly.

Olivia let out a short laugh. "That's alright, I find that quite reasonable. Although I don't think that Reg and Potter has a good time last night."

"Oh, did he come back in a mood too?" Olivia could tell that Lily was suppressing a giggle.

"Yup. Boys, eh?" Olivia laughed.

"I know right? Hopefully they don't the end up jinxing each other."

"Hopefully not. Although I feel like it is only a matter of time."

"Yeah, me too. At least they are okay right now and I shouldn't need to switch them just yet."

"True! If they survive the first Quidditch match they should be fine." Olivia said as she shook her head the the ridiculousness of the two boys.

"Merlin, I forgot about that." Lily cursed herself and slapped her forehead.

"They'll probably be fine. I'll try and talk to Regulus about it." Olivia said.

"Sorry to be rude and ask but are you and Regulus together?" Lily asked.

"Oh, no. Me and him are just friends." Olivia answered but she could feel herself getting flustered.

"I'm sorry for being a gossip. It's just that you two spend so much time together I just assumed..." Lily said, embarrassed.

"It's alright. It's a mistake a lot of people make." Olivia reassured her.

"You two would be so cute together though. Have you ever considered it? Sorry I'm asking about too much again!" Lily stuttered.

"Honestly Lily, it's fine! I'm not offended by people asking me questions. And well, yeah of course I have considered it but I value him so much and I really don't want to risk losing him from my life. I'm not quite sure yet if I like him enough to sacrifice our friendship." Olivia didn't quite know why she was opening up to Lily like this when she only started talking to her 10-15 minutes ago. There was just something about the Gryffindor that made her feel comfortable enough to speak about those things.

"That makes sense. I would be the same. Especially when you are still at Hogwarts, if something goes wrong you would still have to see each other every day." Lily said in a thoughtful voice.

"Exactly!" Olivia perhaps said a bit too excitedly. She was just happy to be speaking to someone who seems to understand her and her feelings. "Anyway, what about you and James?" she raised a brow at the redhead.

"Ugh, don't get me started!" Lily groaned. "He is such an annoyance. I wish he would just leave me alone sometimes."

"So you aren't attracted to him at all?" Olivia inquired.

"Nope. Personally I prefer guys who are more quiet and sensible. I don't want to be looking after a man child all the time." Olivia laughed at Lily's statement.

"I see where you are coming from. He must have matured a bit recently though... I mean to be chosen as Head Boy you must be able to be at least a little responsible." Olivia thought aloud.

"Yeah I mean he has grown up a bit in the past year but he is still quite annoying. At least he has stopped hexing people in the hallway." Lily said.

"At this rate, he might be mature by the time he hits 30!" Olivia said with a giggle. Lily joined in with the giggles and Olivia felt a warm feeling of happiness spread through her.

It was nice to have a girly chat with someone. Usually she would only talk with Regulus, which she enjoyed but there was only certain things she that could talk about with him. Personally, Olivia didn't care much that Lily was a Gryffindor. As a whole, they were not her favourite people. She did not enjoy the company of loud and outgoing people typically but Lily was never really like that. Especially in an environment when it was just the two of them. Olivia hopes that one day she could be able to call Lily Evans her friend.


	4. Chapter 4

Olivia was privileged enough to be a part of the Slug Club. This was probably due to her keen interest and talent in potions but was maybe also due to her close association with Regulus. So it was no surprise when she got an owl one morning, inviting her to the first Slug Club dinner party of the year. She looked over to Regulus who was holding the same invitation in his hand.

"You gonna go?" she asked, reaching for a piece of toast.

"Yeah, most likely. You?" Regulus was already fixing his hair as he spoke.

"Yeah me too. I wonder what Slughorn has in store for us this year." Olivia wondered aloud.

Regulus snorted with laughter. "Probably a lot of cake and a lot of questions about our families."

"Well I look forward to the cake part."

•

Olivia put on one of her more modest dresses for the first Slug Club dinner party of the year. It was a cream coloured lace dress that stopped at her knees. One that her mother had bought her for her cousin's wedding last year.

She knew that Regulus was waiting for her in the common room but she wanted to make sure that her hair and make up were on point. She needed to feel confident if she was to corner James Potter and ask for his assistance. However, there was one piece of her hair that would not conform- it would not frame her face the way that she wanted it to and when she tried to tuck it behind her ear, it would simply fall back again. She had tried charms, she had tried securing it down with pins but nothing would tame this one loss piece of hair around her face. Sighing in defeat, Olivia turned away from the mirror and walked into the Common Room, a sour expression plastered onto her face.

"Why are you so grumpy?" Regulus asked as he leaned on one of the sofas, evidently waiting for her.

"This one strand of hair looks so stupid and I can't do anything to tame it." Olivia said as she tugged on the strand of hair for emphasis.

Regulus chuckled at her over dramatic behaviour. "You can't even notice it unless you pint it out. It's fine. Why do you care so much anyway? You have put a lot of effort into your appearance tonight."

"Can't I just dress up for once? I am getting older and more mature, you know?" Olivia said, trying to disguise her intentions. However, with Regulus, who often knew her better than herself, it was almost impossible to hide the truth. He gave her a skeptical glance but let it pass.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. You spent too long getting ready, we need to head if we are going to make it in time." Regulus said and made a move to leave, but not before the pair was approached by Severus Snape.

"Black, Rottlow... are you heading to Slughorn's party?" he asked, his hands awkwardly falling into his pockets.

"Yeah, we are." Regulus replied for them both.

"If you see Lily Evans whilst you are there, could you tell her that I wish to speak with her?" Severus asked.

Olivia wanted to scoff but managed to hold it back. Regulus was the one to answer. "Yeah, sure." he shrugged in response before leading Olivia out of the common room.

"You will have to pass that message onto Evans since she is seemingly your new best friend." Regulus said with a slight bitter tone to his voice.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "We've been through this, Reg. Lily is actually quite pleasant to speak to and makes patrol a little less tedious... just because you spend all of your time squaring up to Potter. Anyway, I might not mention the whole Snape thing to her. If she hasn't talked to him, it is probably for good reason. He did call her a mudblood."

"You are trying to say to me that she isn't a mudblood?" Regulus let out a sarcastic laugh.

"No, but she considered him a close friend and was trying to help him. It would be like you calling me a mudblood in front of everyone. I would be very hurt if you did something like that to me." Olivia said.

"You are not a mudblood though."

"But if I was... you wouldn't call me that name, right?"

"I'm not quite sure we would be friends if that was the case."

Ouch. Those words stung Olivia a lot. It was like someone had sent a jinx right through her heart, shattering it to pieces. She didn't have time to digest the comment further as they had arrived at venue for the Slug Club dinner.

Usually before dinner, the Slug Club members like to mingle before the food arrives and this time, it was no different. Olivia followed Regulus to a corner of the room, doing a quick glance around the room to see who was present, and to spot a particular wizard so that she could plan her mission for the night. However, the room was already pretty crowded as Olivia made them both a bit later than they maybe should have been. This made it a little more difficult to spot certain people.

"I'm just going to head to the toilet, be back in a few seconds." Regulus told her before leaving her on her own.

Olivia watched as Regulus made his way through the crowd. Her interest peaked when she saw him barge past the body of James Potter, who seemed to be walking away dejectedly from Lily Evans. This could be her chance. With one final deep breath, she made her way over to the sulking boy who was now just staring at his glass of pumpkin juice. She looked around before making the final step towards him, noticing that is closest friend here, Remus Lupin, was too busy in conversation with some Ravenclaw to notice his friend at that moment. So this was her one opportunity to strike.

"James Potter." she said, although her voice failed her bit, getting shaky at the end.

James' head shot up at the sound of his name and looked surprised to see Olivia standing in front of him. His eyes looked like they were going to shoot out of their sockets. "Olivia Rottlow?"

"Yeah..hi...do you mind if we have a chat for a second?" Olivia asked nervously.

"Sure?" James said uncertainly.

Another deep breath and Olivia began to speak with more clarity. "We both know that the relationship between the Black brothers is complicated. But it wasn't always like that. They used to be close growing up, much to Walburga's displeasure when Regulus picked up one or two of Sirius' bad habits. He may not show it anymore but Reg still does look up to Sirius. Of course, Sirius leaving over summer has definitely strained their relationship further. I'm not blaming Sirius for what he did but I believe that Regulus needs his big brother and them both being distant from each other is affecting him more than he cares to show and it must have an impact on Sirius too. We are two of the closet people to Sirius and Regulus and if they are ever going to have a proper conversation again, I am going to need your help."

James looked taken aback by Olivia's words and took a moment to process them before a scorn appeared on his face. "Why would I do anything to help that little git? He was so rude to me the other day during patrol."

"You do realise that you are talking to 'that little git's' best friend? But you are not just helping Regulus, you would be helping Sirius too... don't you think he deserves to have his brother a part of his life?"

James sighed. "Fine, I'll help."

Olivia could feel a wide smile covering her face. "Great! Just try and gently push Sirius in the direction of sparking a conversation with Regulus. I'll do the same with Reg. If that doesn't work we will just lock them in a broom cupboard together until they finally see eye to eye again."

James looked at her strangely.

"What?" she asked, suddenly insecure and tucking that strand of hair behind her ear.

"Nothing." James said, distant.

Olivia frowned and was about to walk away when she felt a hand touching her back.

"Oh, hey Reg." she said with a smile, turning around to face him.

"Hey Reg." James teased in a high pitched voice, obviously regaining his charisma.

Olivia sent him a warning look and sensed that Regulus behind her sent him a more intense look as the Gryffindor chuckled, put his hands up in defence and walked away from the two Slytherins.

"What did he want?" Regulus asked with disgust when James was out of earshot.

"Oh, nothing important. Just wanted to annoy me about Quidditch. Something about Gryffindor beating Slytherin in a few weeks."

"As if!" Regulus laughed. "The Slytherin team is strong this year, we will walk all over those arrogant Gryffindors. Especially Potter. He has gotten far too confident for his abilities recently. You are gonna come and watch the match, right?"

"Yeah, of course." Olivia smiled at him and squeezed his arm.

Just then, Slughorn called for everyone to come and sit for the dinner to start. Olivia took the seat next to Regulus and it wasn't long before Lily Evans slid into the seat on the other side of her.

"Hey!" Lily greeted Olivia.

"Hi!" Olivia said back.

•

The meal was as delicious as ever and Olivia had a great time conversing with Regulus and occasionally turning to her other side for a chat with Lily. Despite being cautious about bringing up the subject of Severus Snape, Olivia decided that it was probably best to. She simply didn't want to have to deal with Snape complaining to her about it all. 

"Uh Lily, I understand if you don't want to hear this but Snape said that he wanted to speak with you." Olivia said hesitatingly, playing around with the meat on her plate. 

"Oh." Lily said, looking down at her plate. "I'm not sure I will."

"Don't worry, I won't say anything to him. I don't blame you for being distant, by the way."

Lily gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks."

Olivia returned her focus to her food but not before she noticed James Potter staring at them both with a quizzical look on his face. Olivia didn't even bother to think much into it.

But maybe she should of. As she waited outside the office for Regulus who was talking to Slughorn about Quidditch practice, James approached her. 

"Olivia, you know how I agreed to help you with your little thing with Regulus..." he said.

"Hmm?" Olivia looked at him sceptically, not knowing where this was going. 

"Well, I can't help but notice that you are quite close to Lily Evans these days... you could always put in a good word for you considering that I am helping you with this?" 

Olivia's head fell back and she let out a laugh. "If you prove yourself to be a good person and a good ally through this maybe I may mention it to her but so far you aren't selling it to me... now go, Reg will be back any second and I don't want him getting anymore suspicious." 

James's mouth opened and closed again before turning around and walking down the corridor. Olivia couldn't help but giggle at his childish behaviour. She thought that Lily said he had matured a little... what was he like before?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately I have started to fell very unwell... please pray for me that it isn’t Covid. Anyway because of this and because of Uni work intensifying I do not know how frequently I can be writing and updating but I hope to update sometime soon when this all fades out :) thanks for showing support on this story, I hope that you are enjoying it as much as I enjoy writing it! Hope you all have a nice day/night and stay safe! x


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